


if it's me he's kissing

by jvo_taiski



Series: PJO one-shot collection [7]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: AU, College, Fluff, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Percy is oblivious, Roommates, cute christmas scene, implied sex, kind of, not really - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:36:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jvo_taiski/pseuds/jvo_taiski
Summary: "I don't mind him kissing guys... if it's me he's kissing."
Relationships: Jason Grace/Percy Jackson
Series: PJO one-shot collection [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876507
Comments: 7
Kudos: 143





	if it's me he's kissing

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this a while back, here you go!

Percy yawned and stretched. It had been a long day. He was all moved into his new apartment, now all he needed was a pot noodle and a wank and he’d be all set for bed. His flatmates were due to move in the next day and college started in a week and honestly, Percy was really excited. It was going to be a good year, he just knew it.

It was his first time staying in his own place and not just the student dorms at Campus and he was in love already. He’d got lucky getting the place, and for such a good price as well—apparently, according to their landlord, the last person staying there had died and the body was pretty horrifying, and enough people saw it to drag all sorts of nasty rumours around the place. Something about ghosts and Satan and whatnot.

But for a broke college student like Percy, it was perfect. Sure, it was a bit cramped, but from the conversations he had with them over text, he was going to get on great with his flatmates. So far, the only thing that potentially posed a bit of a problem was the one bathroom—morning showers were going to be difficult to fit in. Otherwise, there were two bedrooms, one for Percy and this guy Jason, and one for a girl called Rachel. There was also a living space with a ratty sofa and TV which looked like it could be pretty comfortable once the others brought their own furniture in as well.

Percy wandered into the kitchen and turned on the kettle, frowning slightly at the rust-coloured stain forming on the opposite wall. It looked like there was a leak already—he’d have to speak to their landlord. But later. Right now, he had a pot noodle to be attending to.

As he sat on the counter, burning his tongue on the soggy mixture that he called ‘sustenance’, he couldn’t help feeling like everything was going to go right. He could call this place a home.

***

“I’m home!” shouted Percy, kicking his shoes off at the door. The house smelled strongly of paint.

“We’re in here!” yelled Rachel, her voice coming from the living room.

“The pizza place closed early,” Percy remarked, tossing his keys onto the table and strolling in. “So I got Chinese instead, hope that’s okay—what the _fuck?_ ”

He broke off with a strangled noise and froze in shock, takeout bag dangling from his arms. Sure, he was expecting Rachel to have her easels and paints out, but he definitely wasn’t anticipating Jason, lying stark-naked and posing suggestively on the couch. Jason caught his horrified glance, then smirked and winked.

“Hey Percy. Paint me like one of your French girls.”

There was a pause, as Percy blushed and stammered and tried desperately to look everywhere except Jason’s muscular torso that tapered off towards a slim waist and down to—nope. Absolutely not.

Rachel lost her composure first and burst out laughing, relieving the tension in the room, while Jason grinned playfully, completely at ease in his skin. It was obvious what they were doing—while the painting in front of her was little more than rough strokes, it already resembled Jason’s toned body. He tossed on his sweatpants without a care and sat up on the sofa, laughing at Percy’s shocked expression.

“C’mon I’m not that ugly, am I? I don’t think I warranted such a horrified reaction.”

“I was just shocked, man,” whined Percy, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. “It’s not every day you come home to see your naked roommate and let me tell you, it’s not something I ever want to see again.”

“Fuck you Percy, I’m fucking sexy, I was doing you a favour. I’m sorry though, for not warning you—I didn’t realise you were coming in,” he finished, changing his tone anxiously when Percy didn’t join in with his laughter.

“No, it’s fine,” he said faintly, setting the takeout on the table while Rachel shoved all her painting stuff to the side of the living room. “Just wasn’t expecting it after all.”

They ate in companionable silence, with Jason and Rachel exchanging light jokes throughout. Percy was unusually silent around two of his best friends and he didn’t know why. He was doing a lot of thinking.

They seemed really easy with each other and completely unbothered about Rachel painting him nude. Is that what normal friends did? Was Percy making too big of a deal out of it? Or did they have something going on?

The thought left a sour taste in his mouth although he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was because they were his flatmates but didn’t bother tell him? Yes, that must have been it.

***

Turned out, no. Jason and Rachel most certainly didn’t have anything going on and most definitely never would—Jason was gay.

Percy’s last class of the day was cancelled, so he did what he normally did after college, but an hour and a half earlier. He kicked open their door, got rid of his shoes and tossed his keys on the table, choosing to ignore this morning’s breakfast dishes he’d forgotten to do. Then, he grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard and filled it with cereal before wandering into the living room, intending to waste a couple of hours flicking through his phone.

Problem was, the couch was already taken. Percy froze in his tracks at stared in shock at the scene in front of him—Jason, shirtless, making out with some random dude on the couch. His hands were running all over the random guy’s back and there was fierceness in the way they were kissing.

The sight made something ugly surface in him, after he’d recovered from his shock. He couldn’t tell what it was—hate? It looked so _wrong,_ what he was seeing. It made his skin prickle and his blood boil. What the hell was Jason doing? Especially when they’d agreed that nobody was allowed to fuck on the couch when other people were home?

He slammed the door violently and they broke apart, Jason jumping up guiltily and pulling up his fly.

“Shit! Percy, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think your class finished for another hour, at least! If I’d known you were home—”

“It’s fine,” he replied, through gritted teeth. Honestly, he didn’t know why he was so mad—walking in on them was an accident after all, and it’s like Jason had a way of knowing his classes were cancelled. “Just… take it somewhere else.”

And gods, those words were hard to force out of his mouth. The good mood that had blossomed from a cancelled class was completely gone and he didn’t know why. Then, without another word, he stormed off towards his room still clutching his bowl of cereal. He scowled to himself, hoping the guy would just fuck off already.

“ _What’s his problem?”_

The walls were thin in their apartment, one of the reasons why fucking when flatmates were at home was a no-no. Right now, it meant that Percy could hear every word of their conversation and he listened, stony-jawed. The guy’s voice was rough, slightly raspy. Percy wondered if he’d sucked Jason’s dick and felt a fresh rush of irrational anger course through him.

_“Nothing, man,”_ came Jason’s concerned voice. _“He’s probably having a bad day. He’s not normally like this. And he probably wasn’t expecting a stranger in his house, I didn’t warn him.”_

The other man gave a disbelieving snort. _“What an asshole. I bet he’s a homophobe with deep-rooted fragile masculinity.”_

_“He’s not homophobic. He’s my friend, he’s supportive and I know he doesn’t care who I fuck.”_

Except, for some reason, Percy did care very much.

There was a distant jingling of keys and their voices faded away as they left, presumably for the door.

Percy gave a long-suffering sigh and rolled over onto his stomach, burying his face onto the pillow and turning the guy’s words over in his head. Was he homophobic? Certainly not. Percy was a lot of things, but homophobic wasn’t one of them. He was probably surprised, and jealous that he hadn’t got laid in over a month.

“Percy? You good?”

“Huh?” Percy sat up, confused. Jason was back. “What are you doing here?”

“I live here, dumbass,” he grinned back, flopping down next to Percy and ruffling his hair.

Percy batted his hand away, still dumbfounded. “But that guy—aren’t you going to finish uh—” his ears turned pink. “Go and finish whatever the hell you guys were doing?”

“Nah,” shrugged Jason, leaning back so he was lying on Percy’s bed. If he noticed Percy’s embarrassment, he didn’t comment on it. “He was kind of a douche.”

“He’s not your boyfriend?” asked Percy, surveying the blonde next to him.

“Nah. Just some guy from class. Sorry you walked in on that, by the way,” he sat up so fast he almost smacked Percy on the chin, an anxious look on his face. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”

“No, it’s fine,” Percy replied, genuinely meaning it. The weird anger he’d felt evaporated in seconds, at Jason’s apology—it was an accident after all, Jason wasn’t expecting him to walk in on that. “My class got cancelled.”

Then, he coughed awkwardly and turned his attention to his cereal, which was a little soggy now. Jason was very close and his eyes were lighter than Percy remembered and for some reason, the fact that Jason thought the guy was a douche cheered him up slightly. It made sense. The guy had called him a homophobe, after all.

***

“Turn the brightness up,” complained Percy, trying and failing to grab the remote from Jason’s hands.

“Maybe if you got up you’d be able see properly,” he retaliated, looking down at Percy fondly, who just tried hitting him with the baby-seal eyes that normally, only Annabeth was immune to.

All three of them were enjoying a Christmas movie night together, as none of them particularly wanted to go home. Well, that wasn’t strictly true: Percy would have gone home if he could, or rather if he could get his hands on the money required for a plane ticket back to New York. Jason didn’t really have a home to go to, and Rachel’s parents probably wouldn’t notice if she came home, even though the last time she’d seen them they said they were disowning her. So there they were, three sad flatmates chilling on the couch, drinking and watching _Finding Nemo_ together. Rachel (okay, and maybe Percy) had already cried in the first 10 minutes, even though they both knew damn well that Nemo’s mum was going to die. Jason had laughed at the both of them, but they blamed the slightly dreary holiday vibes and the alcohol.

But honestly, it really wasn’t that bad. There were worse ways to spend Christmas, that weren’t with two of Percy’s favourite people in the whole world.

He was lying stretched out on the sofa, his legs draped over Rachel’s legs and over the armrest, and his head resting on Jason’s lap. And he was comfortable. He thanked every lucky star that they were his flatmates. Somewhere over the course of the evening, his tipsy brain had realised that he’d made some friends for life and hoped that they were willing to find another place together when the lease was up—they felt like home.

He was feeling content and fuzzy when the film finally finished and he was hit by another rush of love for his friends. Rachel looked like she was asleep, cuddling one of the pillows, and Jason was smiling down at him, the soft light giving his expression a teasing twinkle. It made Percy’s heart clench. Gods, why was he such an emotional drunk? He yawned and stretched, mostly to distract himself and accidentally elbowed Jason in the chest.

“You prick,” he mumbled, batting Percy’s hands down. “Hands to yourself.”

“It’s revenge. I couldn’t see the screen properly because you wouldn’t let me turn the brightness up.”

“I’ve already told you, maybe if you sat up and stopped giving me a dead leg…” grinned Jason, but he made no move to push Percy away and didn’t stop carding his fingers through Percy’s hair. It felt nice and made Percy strangely calm.

“You’re cruel,” sighed Percy dramatically, but Jason just shrugged, smiling playfully. Again, damn Jason and his immunity to his seal-puppy eyes. They went silent for a moment, content to just be in each other’s presence. The radio was faintly playing Christmas tunes from next door and for once, their apartment smelled like cinnamon and citrus as opposed to fresh paint. And everything just looked softer, bathed in a festive golden glow.

Percy could have stayed in that moment forever, gazing into Jason’s smiling eyes and enjoying the feeling of his fingers tangling in his hair.

“Oh my gods, guys, you’re so cute,” laughed Rachel, breaking their moment and making the both of them jump. They’d both thought she was asleep. “You’re basically married! Should I leave? Am I third wheeling?”

Jason grinned and laughed it off, although he did stop playing with Percy’s hair.

“I’m not gay,” Percy blurted, trying to join in with the joke but he felt a blush rising to his face. Even though he knew Rachel was just messing around, and she wasn’t serious. But he felt like he’d said the wrong thing when Jason got a tightness around his mouth.

His laugh didn’t quite reach his eyes when he complained about how heavy Percy’s head was and gently shoved him off and Percy’s returning complaint was half-hearted when his sorry ass landed on the floor. He didn’t get up straight away, instead opting to try and stop his head spinning. Drinking alcohol lying down wasn’t a good idea. And he was confused, but he didn’t really know why.

***

Oh boy, that was definitely Jason sitting across the coffee shop and he was definitely on a date. He was wearing his football jersey, the one that Percy sometimes borrowed (read: stole) when he was cold and his hair was evenly gelled into place. Percy scowled and looked away. He preferred it when Jason washed the gel out and walked around their flat with his soft blonde hair loose.

Percy ordered his coffee in a daze and almost didn’t notice when he tried paying with his bus pass. He definitely didn’t notice the barista’s casual compliment and flirtatious laugh. He could not for life of him figure out why the sight of Jason on a date made a lump form in his throat and something nasty he couldn’t identify prickling across his skin. Was it anger? Or disgust?

Oh gods, what if he actually was homophobic? Maybe that’s why his hackles raised every time he saw Jason with another man. Percy grabbed his coffee in a daze and turned around, intending to make a beeline for the door. He had a lot of thinking to do.

But of course, Jason noticed him and crossed the café, and of course Percy was too deep in thought to notice and crashed into him. Thankfully, he managed to keep hold of his coffee but he wasn’t sure if it was worth it, not if the reason was because Jason managed to grab hold of his wrists to steady him.

Percy pulled his hands away like he’d been burnt, ignoring the drops of hot coffee that sloshed out of his cup and onto the floor. “Jason! Hi!” he said, nervously looking at a point somewhere above Jason’s head.

Why gods? Why couldn’t he be like a normal friend and say hi genuinely, and actually introduce himself to Jason’s date?

“Hey. You alright, man? You look shaken.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he mumbled, ignoring the concern in Jason’s voice. “Enjoy your date.”

The words tasted nasty in his mouth and he bolted for the exit, resolutely refusing to look at Jason’s date. The sight made him clench his jaw, but then he heard the _“What’s his problem?”_ from behind him and remembered the slight hurt that marred Jason’s handsome features. He felt a swoop of hot shame hit him as he hurried along the streets, back to their apartment. It was sticky and uncomfortable and Percy hated it.

Why was Jason’s love life such an issue to him? Why did he care who he was kissing?

Percy was so preoccupied he didn’t notice the car veering and swearing at him when he hurried across the road without looking first.

_What if he was secretly homophobic?_

The thought made bile rise in his throat.

***

“Annabeth! Annabeth.”

“What? Calm down Percy,” came her slightly panicked voice over the phone. It was familiar and calmed him down somewhat. “Has someone died, or something?”

“No. Worse,” he wailed, flopping down on his bed.

“Worse?”

“Yes, worse. Annabeth, I think I might be homophobic.”

There was a pause on the end of the line and Percy, hating himself, thought he’d gone and scared his best friend off. But then she burst into peals of laughter and didn’t stop for a solid five minutes.

“What? _Di immortals,_ seaweed brain, you idiot, what makes you think that?”

“I just,” he traced miserable circles on the duvet beneath him. “I just hate it whenever I see my roommate with another guy. It makes me really uncomfortable and I hate it. Does that make me homophobic?” Percy finished, anxiously.

There was a pause while Annabeth laughed at him even more. “Wait, Jason? Your hot, gay roommate?”

“The one and only.”

She stopped giggling and steadied her voice, levelling it so it was soothing. “Percy. You’re not homophobic. You literally see me and Piper making out all the time and that’s never bothered you before.”

“Yeah, but that’s different,” he whined.

“How is it different? It’s a couple of gays, expressing affection and doing gay things.”

“I don’t know,” huffed Percy, floundering over his words. “Maybe society? Like men fetishizing lesbians? Maybe my internalised homophobia doesn’t mind?”

He could practically hear Annabeth rolling her eyes over the phone. “Do you fetishize me and Piper snogging?”

“No, it’s annoying because I’m always the third wheel.”

“Exactly. Besides, you don’t have internalised homophobia, kelp head.”

“The evidence is showing the contrary! What do I do?”

“Percy,” she snapped, patience wearing thin. “How many times? You don’t have internalised homophobia. You literally don’t care when Nico and Will get it on, you literally helped set them up.”

“Yeah, but…” she had a point and Percy didn’t like it. “That’s different,” he finished, lamely.

“How, pray tell fuck, is that any different?”

“It’s… uh… they’re not my roommates?” he was floundering for excuses at that point and he damn well knew it, but he couldn’t think of another reason why he’d be so bothered with Jason’s love life. He glared at Jason’s bed across from him, baby blue duvet made as usual and the corners tucked in. “Maybe I feel uncomfortable knowing I have a gay roommate?”

“Well, do you feel uncomfortable around Jason?”

“No.”

“Well that’s settled then,” she smirked. He could hear the amusement creeping back into her voice but it was still balanced out with equal parts exasperation, like it always sounded when he did something particularly stupid. Only he couldn’t figure out what was so obvious that he was apparently missing here. “You don’t have a problem with Jason being gay, you just have a problem when he kisses other guys.”

“Right. Does that make me homophobic?” he asked, feeling like she’d figured something out that was glaringly obvious but he still couldn’t wrap his head around.

“No! Mother of gods, how are you so obtuse?” she complained, fondly. “Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“That would be nice, yes.”

She laughed at him again, clearly finding some kind of sadistic joy in his turmoil. Screw Annabeth. He should have called Grover instead.

“Percy. I’m just here to assure you not to worry, and that you’re definitely not homophobic. In fact, you’re the complete opposite. What’s the opposite of homophobic?”

“Uh… an LGBTQ+ ally?”

She let out a screech of frustration and there was a bang, probably her slamming her phone on the table. “Figure it out yourself!” she groaned, as if his denseness was causing her physical pain. Then, she hung up without another word, making it clear she didn’t want to speak another word.

Percy just lay there, mystified, wondering what the hell it was all about then. At least she didn’t think he was homophobic. No, there was something else and Percy couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was.

***

Percy thought he was having fun. One minute, he was in the club with a laughing Jason next to him, cheering Rachel on as she threw back a double shot and climbed up to the pole, helped by the stunningly beautiful dancer there. To Percy’s surprise, Rachel was actually damn good at dancing even while tipsy. He contemplated filming it so they could laugh at it when she was sober, but he was distracted by Jason, who’d grabbed his elbow and was chuckling in his ear. The sound sent tingles down Percy’s spine.

“Hey, Percy. Will you look at that,” he laughed, pointing at a blonde whose features he could dimly make out across the club. “Apparently old Octavian didn’t know Rachel could dance either.”

Rachel’s arch-nemesis from art class was holding his drink so tightly his knuckles were white and he was completely ignoring the chick next to him, instead staring at Rachel’s wild red curls catching the pulsing light and lingering on her long legs. Percy snorted with laughter, but got distracted quickly—he wasn’t used to seeing Jason wearing a long, silver earring. Normally, on a day-to-day, he wore a simple stud.

But the next moment Percy knew, Jason wasn’t by his side anymore. He frowned: it wasn’t really any of his business what Jason did at a strip club. Even if he was off buying drinks for a guy somewhere, or even going home with one. If Percy couldn’t see him, it was fine, right? He’d never had a problem with the idea of Jason kissing guys before.

Except he did, and it was annoying. It was like Annabeth said. Percy didn’t mind Jason being gay at all, nope. He just had a problem with Jason kissing other guys.

Percy sighed and turned back to his conversation with Hazel and Frank, only that they weren’t talking anymore, nope. They were enthusiastically making out and their hands were roaming to dangerous places. Sure enough, they left pretty soon after that, leaving Percy sitting alone at the bar surrounded by the slightly suffocating smell of sweat and alcohol. He looked around for Rachel but he knew it was hopeless. He didn’t have a chance of finding her in there, among the dim, coloured lights that swept the room and the pulsing music. And if the look Octavian was giving her was any indication, he wasn’t sure he wanted to find her.

Instead, he bought another drink moodily and resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to actually talk to someone new or go home. Maybe he could find a cute girl or something, who was willing to sleep with him for a night. The bartender was cute and she seemed to linger near him and throw him teasing glances—maybe she was interested.

He’d just given her a cheesy pick-up line and a winning smile and she was laughing and getting kind of touchy-feely when he saw Jason on the other side of the bar, chatting easily with a guy, who’s hand was resting suggestively on his waist. Percy gritted his teeth, trying to quell the spike of anger, and turned back to the bartender but not really listening to a word she was saying. Why was he so mad at Jason? There were a handful of other gay couples dotted around the club but he wasn’t paying any attention to them. When Percy couldn’t take it anymore and risked another glance in Jason’s direction, the blonde was gone.

Probably fucking. Again, Percy had to force down that nasty feeling that rose in him. He couldn’t take it anymore, he wasn’t in the mood. Feeling slightly guilty at the bartender’s obvious disappointment, he excused himself and made for the exit. But when he turned around one last time, he saw Jason dancing suggestively, with his lips dangerously close to the random guy’s ear. Percy saw red.

He tried turning around but Jason looked up and caught his eye, the lazy expression of fun quickly wiped off and replaced with confusion and then anger. Percy realised he was glaring at Jason, probably with a look of burning hate on his face.

He tore his gaze away from Jason and stormed away, ignoring Jason shrugging the other guy away and heading towards him, anger in his eyes. Percy hoped he would notice that he didn’t want to talk and fuck off already, and go back to flirting with that other prick.

“Percy!”

Percy ignored him. Maybe he’d take the hint and get lost.

But Jason followed him all the way back to their apartment, a couple of steps behind him the whole way, even when Percy sped up and started walking faster. The second they’d made it into their apartment, Jason exploded.

“Percy! What the fuck is your problem?” he hissed, forcefully grabbing his shoulders and spinning him around so he was eye level with him. Percy clenched his jaw and refused to look Jason in the eye. For some reason, he felt like he was going to cry.

“Nothing! Let go,” snapped Percy, shrugging him off and pulling off his shoes, before storming into the living room.

“No, Percy!” Jason grabbed his arm again. “You tell me what the fuck’s going on here. Why do you act like such a dick whenever I talk to other guys?”

“I don’t fucking know, okay?” he exploded, unable to control his emotions anymore. “All I know is that whenever I see you kissing another dude, it makes me feel fucking sick! Just get out of my face, okay? Go back to that ginger twat you were running your hands all over.”

Jason stopped like he’d been slapped in the face, hurt written all over it. But it quickly shuttered off and was replaced with ice-cold anger. “Is that what it is then, Percy? This whole time and you’re fucking homophobic?”

“I—” honestly, Percy didn’t know what to say. No, he didn’t think he was homophobic at all but what was the other option?

Jason took his silence as confirmation and turned away, and Percy wasn’t blind to the way his eyes seemed shinier than usual. He ran an angry hand over his eyes and gritted his teeth.

“Fine. Fine. You’re fucking homophobic. I make you uncomfortable.”

“No, I—”

Jason ploughed on. “That’s it. I’m not fucking living like this, you’d better find a new flatmate; I’m out. I’m done, I’m packing my shit, I’m not living with a cunt who hates my existence—”

“No! Jason!” Percy lunged forwards and grabbed his arm, but Jason shoved him away. He’d never felt such terror before. Jason? Leaving? Because he thought that he, Percy, hated the fact he liked men?

“Get off me. Why are you touching me, I thought I was disgusting?”

“No, no, no, please Jason,” he pleaded, not caring if he looked panicked. Gods, he was fucking terrified. “Jason, I swear, I know what it looks like but I don’t have a problem with you kissing guys if—if— _oh._ ”

He paused, slapped in the face by realisation. Suddenly everything made sense—the irrational feelings of anger, feeling flustered around Jason, and Annabeth’s words. Gods, as Annabeth eloquently put it, how in Hades was he so obtuse? He wasn’t homophobic, nope. Not at all. In fact, he was the opposite and he was simultaneously floored and calmed by the sudden revelation, because, this whole time, he wasn’t mad Jason was kissing other guys, nope.

“If what, Percy?” scowled Jason, evidently still confused but still fuming. “If what? If I keep my homosexual tendencies out of sight, so you won’t remember that your roommate’s a fag—”

“No!”

“If what, then?”

Percy gulped. “I don’t have a problem with you kissing guys if… if it’s me you’re kissing.”

He finally looked up to meet Jason’s stunned expression. He’d never felt more vulnerable in his life and it scared him. Why wasn’t Jason saying something, anything? Friend-zoning him or something, or even roommate-zoning because he wasn’t sure if they counted as friends after the way Percy had acted?

But there was still a certain sense of peace in Percy, even though he was panicking inwardly. At least he’d figured out what it was now. At least he knew he wasn’t homophobic, he was just very, very gay for Jason. It was a bit of a relief, at least.

So he just stood there in the semi-darkness of their living room, offering his heart out to Jason, to take or leave, alcohol still singing dimly in his blood and the distant rumble of traffic outside. He watched Jason’s expression melt from pure shock to realisation, to something else that Percy couldn’t decipher. He didn’t try and look away.

“Perce,” he finally broke the silence and took a step forwards, cupping Percy’s face in one of his hands. Percy’s heart stuttered under his touch. “You’re not having me on?”

“No. I’m very serious,” Percy whispered. “I’ve just realised and I’m sorry, I’ve been an ass—”

“Hey, Perce,” the tiniest hint of a smile appeared around his lips and he gently tipped Percy’s head up. “Shut up. Can I kiss you?”

“Yes,” he breathed, hands fluttering up to rest on Jason’s shoulders and he could have sworn his heart was beating so fast it could have exploded when Jason leaned down and pressed a soft kiss on Percy’s lips.

He couldn’t help letting out a soft sigh when he tangled his hands in Jason’s hair and felt him snaking his arms tightly around his waist as they both melted into the kiss. Nothing had ever felt so right.

Honestly, he was content just standing there wrapped up in Jason’s arms—he’d never felt so at peace and his mind was still swimming with the kind of quiet joy that made him feel like he was floating. But as Jason’s tongue slid into his mouth and his hands dipped dangerously low, Percy felt his core heating up.

Soon, they were on the couch and their shirts were discarded somewhere on the floor behind them. Percy didn’t quite know how that happened, but he was more than content with Jason between his legs, running his hands all over his sculpted torso. Were they moving too fast? Hell, Percy didn’t even know he liked men until about half an hour ago.

But it felt fucking good and he couldn’t bring himself to think. He let out an embarrassingly high gasp when Jason’s hand snaked under the waistband of his pants and his teeth grazed his neck.

Percy tried bucking his hips up to meet Jason’s but suddenly, they were interrupted by a screech.

“Holy mother of Hades!” wailed Rachel, slamming the lights on and throwing a hand over her eyes. Mercifully, she was Octavian-less.

Jason snatched his hands out of Percy’s pants guiltily and they both jumped up, scrabbling for their T-shirts.

“I mean,” Rachel continued, refusing to look up from behind her hand. “Fucking finally, took you long enough to figure it out, but Apollo above, you literally have a room! There’s no _need—_ ”

“Sorry Rachel, sorry, sorry—”

“Don’t ‘sorry’ me! Scram! Go to your room you nasty fuckers, and you’d better keep it down in there because I plan on sleeping tonight!” she laughed, shooing the pair of them out, bright red and laughing despite themselves.

“Rachel! Mind out of the gutter!” complained Percy, but she just laughed at him and slammed their door behind him, casually mentioning that she was planning on wearing earphones to sleep.

And honestly, whatever Percy said before, it was probably a good thing that she did.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel Annabeth’s pain. Percy’s so oblivious it’s painful XD  
> Should I do a Rachel/Octavian sequel? In canon that ship is actually disgusting (I’m sorry, it’s true, Rachel is the oracle and Octavian is a prick) but I think it could be funny to write the rivals in art class trope where one is a feisty feminist and the other’s a pretentious rich boy… imagine the dynamic lmao.


End file.
